We left Onslow and headed for Nanutarra Roadhouse to refill the tanks and turned towards Paraburdoo, stopping at an overnight free camp – Spuds. It’s a huge area, quiet with little road noise, and the bonus, we were the only ones there.
We have been blessed with the weather, and next day was no exception. Bright sunny days, around mid 20’ s. Off to another free camp at Beasley River. The maps said there were two, one on each side of the river. Well there was no river, only a wide, dry, stoney sandy bed, and no camp on the other side. So we stayed where we were. Over the day it filled up fairly quickly but not noisy, peaceful enough to hear the butcher birds and galahs.
Then it was on to Paraburdoo. Not knowing what to expect, found it to be a nice, small town, stocked up on very essential food items in the local IGA. Very expensive. Since it was the in the country, we expected to prices to be high, but not that exorbitant!
Surrounded by hills, it was a flat clean tidy town, with a drive-in that has movies once a month. It is a mining town with room in the caravan park taken up with portable accomodation. It was a surprise to see that they were anchored to the ground with heavy duty chains bolted into the ground. Must be in the cyclone area.
We were there overnight, and took advantage of free washing machines and dryers to do all our washing and bed linen. Between a railway line and the road into town, we weren’t disturbed too much, and had a pleasant stay.
Tom Price is a town we wanted to visit, and I am impressed at the tidiness, and the pride that the residents have. All the lawns and gardens are neat, well watered and looked after. The town has several sporting venues, a baseball ground, football oval, award winning swimming pool, a skate park, indeed many other parks for picnics, and playgrounds for the little ones.
The mountain near the camp ground loomed large. Mt. Nameless. Don’t ask me why. No one knows. The workers from the mine set up camp there and it was named Nameless. It is also known as the Aboriginal name of Jarndunmunha.
At the time we were there, you could not walk and climb it, nor go there by the 4WD track as it was closed. A dingo attacked someone the seek before, therefore they closed the tracks.
Not too many shops, but the basic ones, e.g. a supermarket, hardware store, electrical, and even a fast food outlet. It is a mining town after all. After 2 nights in the caravan park, we decided to move onto the next stop, a free camp just inside the edge of the Karijini National Park.
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